The Purple Onion

The Purple Onion has been a centre of San Francisco culture since its founding by Bud Steinhoff in 1952. The club is a small, dark, basement on Columbus Avenue in the North Beach area. The name came from a friend of Steinhoff’s, Hungry i owner Rod Banducci.

In 1989 Bud Steinhoff died and the club was taken into its second incarnation with Tom Guido at the helm. Guido continued the tradition of giving a chance to new groups, and as a result has put on some of the most enjoyable and lively shows in the city. Through the 1990s the Onion was home to multiple overlapping Bay-area subcultures, most notably mods decked-out in perfect vintage gear.

The club is dark and hot, with a primitive sound system and décor reminiscent of some cheap 1950s dance in a high-school gym, with minimal lighting and tinsel hanging behind the stage. The bar offers one, sometimes two, varying brands of beer, one cheap, one expensive, and earplugs.

While owner Tom Guido is always willing to give a new band a chance, his favour is capricious at best, and he has been known to turn the sound down or off on bands he doesn’t like. He is maybe best-known for his antics, tormenting audiences with endless bad jokes or meaningless rambling monologues between sets (depending on his level of intoxication). Previous favourites of the Onion often seem to find themselves in bitter feuds with Tom.

Rumour has it that the Purple Onion is no more; last I knew, as of 2000, they weren’t listing their gigs in the paper, but would host the odd show of a Friday or Saturday night. Any information about the current state of the club, or any shared reminiscences, corrections, etc. would be quite welcome—message me.

The Onion has been host to a large variety of underground music, mostly local, but number of Japanese bands have also played there.

San Francisco's The Purple Onion did indeed close in 2000. The space is unused, merely the basement of an Italian Restaurant. Tom Guido is still around San Francisco, appearing occasionally at garage rock shows, though many rumors are extant as to how he keeps himself alive.

Only half of the appeal of the PO is the food; the rest is constituted by the late hours and the atmosphere that conduces to hanging out at night with friends who are welcome whether or not they happen to be quite sober.